Risultati ricerca: what is sadhana

The Doctor of Doctors

The role of the Guru is not only spiritual. A real Guru has to ensure that His disciples' physical, mundane, mental, emotional and spiritual needs are adequately met, with circumstances created by Him so that the disciples could themselves resolve problems that hinder their spiritual progress. The Guru ordinarily allows the disciple to solve his own problems by providing the necessary advice and direction. He usually does not just dispense the magic pill to solve the disciple's problems or to cure his illness. He cures eighty percent of the problem and leaves the remaining twenty percent for the disciple to take his own initiative. Even then, He gives the necessary advice and direction on how best to solve the problem. Another way of looking at the 80-20 equation is that the Guru generally allows the disciple to wallow in the web of life's drama, engage in his samskaras, which may be pleasurable or painful, then pull him out of the web, so that he does not sink further...

Land of Mysticism

During Baba's tour to Israel in 1979, I noticed that He was in an exceptionally light and jolly mood at the Haifa airport. For us who have been exposed to His dark and work-until-you-die-working moods, this was indeed a pleasant diversion, a bonus of sorts. I really could not understand the reason for His happy mood. After His lunch, the reason for His happiness became clearer. He told us, "This country has a lot of dynamism, energy and spirit." He said that the Jews were the original Semitic race with their own unique language and culture. He revealed that many things of spiritual value lay hidden in this deeply mystical land. In olden times, many mystics used to meditate on the top of the hills at midnight. Israel was, in fact, the land where the original concept of madhur sadhana was born. Madhur sadhana is a very sweet and devotional form of spiritual practice taught by Baba to accelerate the speed of spiritual progress. It is done only by renunciates. In the olden...

Preface

Humanity now stands at the crossroads. Human society is at the tail end of the Kali yuga, the dark age - an era when immoral forces have gained total control over political, economic, and other material resources of the world, which benefit only the privileged few who have access to them. The larger humanity bleeds, suffering under the sheer weight of unjust political, economic and social systems. This is true in all countries of the world. Human beings are oppressed not only by power-hungry politicians, but also blood-thristy, supranational corporate giants. This is the curse of this dark age. Materialism has completely corrupted the bodies and minds of men. Moralists are very few. Those few moralists who stand up against the gross injustices are silenced, sometimes killed. It has been said that when dharma surrenders to the powerful immoral forces, Parama Purusa is forced to take a human form to restore dharma to its rightful position in the world. It is for this very purpose that...

Tests

During the month of October 1971, Ananda Marga faced a crisis - both spiritual and organizational. A DMC was held in Calcutta. We were waiting for the evening General Darshan to begin. The procedure was that first Srimati Uma, the wife of Baba, would come out and give a spiritual talk. After that Baba would give His discourse. We used to call Baba's wife "Ma" gave her great respect. That DMC night, Baba's Personal Assistant suddenly came with two or three other central workers and talked about the system of reporting. He started by talking about how Baba gave severe punishment to the workers. He severely criticized this as well as other aspects of Baba's organizational system. Then, he stunned all of us by announcing that Srimati Uma did not agree with Baba regarding several organizational issues, and that she and her son, Gautam, were leaving Him. After that startling announcement, Srimati Uma left with the dissenting group of dadas. This unbelievable drama...

Initiation

In 1971 I attended a PROUT symposium at the University Institute Hall near College Street, Calcutta. As I entered the hall, some Margiis introduced me to two young men, Jayanta Singha and Tapan, who wanted to meet me. One boy had a Master degree in Commerce, while the other was a businessman. I spoke with them for a few minutes before the program. I invited them inside to attend the program and promised to talk with them again when it was over. Acarya Raghunathjii and Mr R Prasad were addressing the audience. These boys were, however, impatient to talk with me, and in the middle of the program, came up to me and asked me to go outside. Reluctantly, I followed them outside. The first young man said, "I think you have some power. So I want to test you." I responded, "There are tests at different levels - physical, mental and spiritual. Do you have any doubt about spiritual power?" They were silent. Then the young man said, "Actually we both have a problem - that...

Varanasi Story

It was in the month of May in 1969, when I was working in the Seva Dharma Mission . We organized a departmental UTC at Varanasi. Varanasi is a beautiful, spiritually vibrated city in Uttar Pradesh. People love to go to Varanasi. It was created seven thousand years ago by Lord Shiva. It is the oldest city in the world. Lord Shiva's spiritual vibration can still be felt by yogis at that place.. After some effort, we found a place near the Ganges River for the UTC. It was summer, and extremely hot - at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of those who attended the UTC were dadas. During the daytime we attended classes. After dinner, most of us crossed the river by boat to do our sadhana on the other side of the river bank, and returned the following morning. The opposite side of the river was completely deserted and lonely. The pure, white sand along the river bank sparkled like a thousand heavenly gems. We meditated on the shore, and after that simply went to sleep on the soft,...

Initiation at Rourkella

In the year 1971, when I worked in Orissa, I visited the town of Rourkella. I conducted a meeting and talked with the local college students. One of them asked me to return with him to his hostel room to teach him meditation. I had some leaflets about sadhana, Yama and Niyama, the 15 Shiilas and the Supreme Command. As I entered the boy's room, I saw a man sitting on a chair outside the room. Actually, he was the father of the boy, but I did not know it at that time. So I did not pay any attention to him. I entered the boy's room and requested him to lock the door from the inside. I then taught him the process of meditation. When I was almost finished, I heard a knock on the door. The knocking became very loud. Hearing the loud knocks, the boy became terrified. He told me, "Dada, now we have to open the door. Maybe it is my father and the hostel warden who want to know what is going on." Then, as he unlocked the door I mentally prayed, "Baba, I am only doing...

Baba once told us that Lord Krsna used to raise the kundalini of people by playing His flute. Everyone used to run towards Him like mad. Baba said that He will not do this. People will have to realize Him by their own effort. I think that even if He had remained for a very short while as "Komaleshvar" - Lord of Tenderness - people would have run madly after Him, intoxicated with bliss. Nobody would have been able to do any work for the society. For this reason, He followed the natural rules, and let nature take its natural course.

That is why He used to tell us that we can only snatch His grace by our karma, sadhana, knowledge and devotion. He was a mystery and everything about Him was a mystery. The moment you try to enter into a blissful state of mind, He will give you tremendous physical pressure or punishment, apparently without any logic or reason. This is to make us surrender everything to Him and not develop our ego, which is a big obstacle in the path of spirituality.

Dada Parashivanandaji

One day in 1969, Baba gave a demonstration on spirituality. A dada named Parashivanandaji, who sat close to Him, thought to himself, "I would like to know about my past life." Baba looked at Parashivananandji and asked, "Why do you want to know your past life?" Baba then called another dada and told him to sit in the proper posture. With His stick Baba touched dada's ajina cakra and said, "Now concentrate on him (Dada Parashivananda) and take his mind back five years in time, ten years, and then twenty years and continue until you have gone back sixty years in time." Then, Baba asked, "What are you seeing?" Dada replied that he saw a coconut tree. Baba told him to concentrate still more deeply. Then dada said, "I am seeing a coconut, Baba." Baba told him, "Now take his mind more than two hundred years back.....Now what are you seeing?" Dada replied, "There is a large pond, and on one side of the pond is a tree....

Memory

In the years 1969 and 1970, Baba gave many amazing demonstrations on different topics related to the laws of spiritual science. One day in 1969, we were with Him at Ranchi. There were just fifteen persons in the room. As we entered the room, Baba said, "Close the door." We closed the door. Then, Baba told us, "Everybody should sit in a proper way and keep the backbone straight." Then, He called four particular persons to the front, close to Him. They were Dada Viirabhadraji, Dada Japanandaji, Dada Vandananandaji, and Sudhanshuji. Three were dadas while one was a Margii. They were all in a line in front of Baba. Baba told them to repeat their Ista mantra. He said, "Today I will give a demonstration to show what cerebral and extra-cerebral memory is." He explained that cerebral memory is the ability to think, remember and memorize something with one's brain about things that have happened in this life. Extra-cerebral memory refers to the ability to...